Chapter 9: Eat You Alive

When Shelby first opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was. Her surroundings were shrouded in dim light, and she seemed to be tied, face-up, to a table. Looking to her right, she caught sight of a bunch of cardboard boxes stacked on top of one another, and what looked like a garage door in the middle of the wall. Her head throbbed with pain, and she remembered what had happened. She had been in that room with Paul, and they'd been… kidnapped. She recalled being whacked over the head by something very heavy – and was sure there was a bump on her head from the collision… As she blinked in confusion, she rolled her head to the left and gasped at what she saw; Paul.

His eyes were shut – he must be unconscious, she thought, anxiously – his arms raised and bound with rope to a metal bar over his head. That wasn't nearly the worst part; his shirt was torn open; his torso ridden with bloody gashes and dark bruises; one of his eyes swollen and black; his arms still plagued with self-induced scars. He looked dreadful and she was scared now. Scared, because whoever had done this to Paul was going to do the same to her. Oh god, they were going to die. Oh god… She felt tears build in her eyes and took a breath to calm herself. This was not a time for panicking – she needed to think of a way out of this mess.

From what she could see of the surrounding room, they were in some sort of warehouse, and they were alone – for now, anyway. She struggled with the rope keeping her hands tied down, but couldn't get free, no matter how hard she tried. Her head ached as a million thoughts ran through it at once, and she let out a groan of frustration. Who would do this to us? was the first thought that came to her mind. She couldn't think of anyone who would want to hurt her – or Paul. But, then again, she didn't know any othervampires apart from the boys… Edgar and Alan would never do something like this. They hated her kind, but this wasn't like them at all.

As the fact that she had absolutely no clue what was going to happen hit her, she heard a small noise and looked over to see that Paul had regained consciousness. His breathing was shallow, ragged, and he blinked for a few seconds, before realizing what was going on.

"Sh… Shelby?" He rasped out, worry lacing his words.

"What's happening, Paul?" She was desperate for answers, "Where are we?"

He shook his head, a look of sheer terror on his bruised face, "Sassy, listen to me: You have to get out of here. You have to go. He's… He'll be back any minute –,"

"I can't," she indicated her bindings, "What are you talking about? Who did this to us?"

But Paul merely shook his head again, before whispering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry –,"

"Sorry for what?" Anger coursed through her veins now, as she fought against the rope tied around her wrists. "Shit... Paul, I'm scared."

They locked eyes, and he murmured, "I know. I'm so sorry, baby – I fucked everything up."

"This isn't your fault," she told him, wishing that he could hold her in his arms – like he always did.

Silence, as he blinked back tears, and then: "I love you more than I've ever loved anything. Don't forget that."

That scared her more than anything else had so far. This proclamation of love felt more like a goodbye, and her stomach churned at the anguish in his eyes. "I love you, too." She replied, a lump rising in her throat.

"Well," a voice said from another corner of the warehouse, "Aren't you two sweet." Shelby couldn't see the source of the voice, but she could tell it belonged to a man – and that said man was their enemy, because Paul had stiffened, his eyes darkening.

Then, she heard the sound of footsteps moving closer to them, and the man appeared. She strained to see him, since she was on her back, but got a pretty good look; he was tall and annoyingly attractive, with short, brown hair – streaked, in one place, with blonde. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a checkered, zip-up hoodie. When she looked again, she saw stains of blood on his sleeves.

"Oh, good, you're finally awake." He stepped forward so he was beside the table, gazing down at her. He had black guyliner around both eyes and a lip piercing, which completed his stereotypical emo-band-boy look. "How're you doing, sweetheart?"

Her eyes narrowed, "Who are you?"

He looked mock-appalled, "Oh yeah – how rude of me. My name's Chase." The smile he flashed at her revealed pearly white teeth. "But, of course, I already know your name." Leaning down, so his nose was almost touching hers, he breathed, "You're even more gorgeous with your eyes open, Shelby."

She turned her head to the other side, away from him, "What do you want? Why did you kidnap us?"

Chase smiled again, straightened up, and shrugged, "Well… Paul's been away for far too long, you see, and even though it's mostly, er… what's that fucker's name?... David's fault, you're partly to blame, right?" She said nothing, so he went on, "I mean, you're basically Paul's slut –," Behind him, Paul started to thrash in anger, struggling against his bindings and growling. This seemed to amuse Chase, because he continued, "But, see, that's the problem. You – and all your boys – have kept him from me. So, I'm going to punish you, naturally. And, since he ran away from me in the first fucking place, I've already started punishing him." That explained Paul's worse-for-wear appearance.

Shelby knew there was something they weren't telling her. "How… How do you know Paul? Why is he so important to you?"

There was a devilish gleam in Chase's eyes now – and it made her want to scream. "Do you mean to say that my man hasn't told you about me?" He looked genuinely surprised, but let out a shout of laughter all the same, "Oh, fuck me, this is going to be more fun that I thought." Pausing for dramatic effect, he took a breath, and then said, "I made Paul what he is. I'm his maker. Hell, he may as well call me 'dad', becauseItook care of his ass for decades."

"You're," Shelby blinked, "You turned him?"

Chase nodded, "Believe it or not, your fuck buddy had one helluva wild side before he met you, beautiful." Moving over to stand beside Paul, who wasn't thrashing anymore, but still looked murderous, he murmured, "Do you want to tell her – or shall I? Hmm?"

"Tell me what?" She was so confused at this point.

"The truth." Chase replied, "She has a right to know – something about your past, don't you think? Just one little anecdote?" Without waiting for an answer, he turned back to Shelby, a horrible smirk on his face now. "Let me tell you about one of boyfriend's greatest hits." He glanced over his shoulder at Paul, "Do you remember that night in Paris? In… was it 1887?"

Paul's eyes widened, "Chase – please, don't. Please –,"

"'Cause I remember it so fucking well, man." Chase seemed to take great pleasure in Paul's anguish. "Paris is… a lovely place. Everyone knows Paris as the city of love and beauty. But you know what the best thing about it is? The women." He winked at Paul, "Right, bro?"

"Stop," he pleaded, voice low, "Please stop."

Making his way back to stand next to Paul, he grabbed him by the throat and smiled, "One night, after wasting our day at a bar, me, Paul, and two of my other boys went out to find women. And – if you've never been to France before – back then, there were whores on every corner. Ready to do anything a paying customer wanted from them. So, we rounded up a couple, and headed back to the hotel we were staying at. Our room was on the top most floor – a master suite, remember?" Paul looked horrified, as Chase continued, "I'll cut right to the highlights. Paul's girl was called… Alice, wasn't she?"

Paul struggled against the grip Chase had on his neck, "You son of a bitch –,"

His grip tightened, causing Paul to choke, and he growled, "Shut the fuck up – I'm telling a story here. Where was I? ... Oh yeah – Alice. Wow – she was such a slut, but not like the other girls we got. They were all about the sex, but she was more about having fun. And, let me tell you, Shelby, Paul had a lot of fun with her. Fucked her every way he knew how – the noise was unbearable – and then the real fun started. The fun that involved bloodshed, and screaming. Let me see… First, I think he made sure to prevent her from screaming, so…" He broke off to rummage inside one of the boxes near Paul's feet, and extracted a roll of duct tape. Paul began to plead again, and Shelby joined in, scared out of her mind. Tearing off a strip of tape, he placed it over Paul's mouth, so he was cut off, but continued to thrash. "Then, I'm pretty sure he did something like this," Shelby watched as he pulled a bloodstained knife out of the pocket of his hoodie.

"No!" She cried, knowing that whatever he was going to do wouldn't be good. "No – don't!"

But, of course, he didn't listen to her, and proceeded to run the sharp blade from Paul's collarbone diagonally down his abdomen, opening up the skin. The tape stifled Paul's cries, but her heart twisted at the sounds and the way he closed his eyes against the pain. Blood flowed freely from the long cut, adding to the number of injuries he'd already obtained from Chase. "Leave him alone!" Tears clouded her vision as she watched Paul tremble and bleed.

"I'm not done with the story yet, love. And don't worry about him – he's got a high tolerance for pain. I witnessed that up closed during our time together earlier." He ran a hand over Paul's black eye, "My, that was a laugh… Anyway, back to the story: After that, he held her down, kissed her, and told her something that I've never forgotten. He said 'Everything's going to be okay, darling. You're going to see death up close.' And then he let her go. He paid her, and let her walk away. But, you know what? As soon as she got to the door, he came up behind her and took her. I'd never seen him drink so deeply before. Every drop of blood in that girl's body… And then, he dropped her onto the floor, looked over to me, and laughed." Reaching up, Chase ripped the strip of tape off Paul's mouth, making him shout in pain.

"Fuck you," Paul gasped, bloody chest heaving, "Fucking bastard…"

Chase punched him, hard. So hard that Shelby saw him spit blood out of his mouth. "You know, I am hurt – wounded – by your attitude. And I think it's time I got down to business."

He moved over to Shelby now, while Paul protested, gnashing his fangs and hissing, "Leave her alone, you sick son of a bitch." Chase chuckled, twirling the knife in his hands and leaning down to breathe in her scent. "Chase! No – god, please – not her. Do whatever you fucking want to me, just don't hurt her!"

She recoiled – as much as she could in her confines – from Chase, but did not show fear. She would not be reduced to a sniveling damsel in distress. Glaring up at him, she said, "Go ahead. Try me."

The vampire paused, his face inches away, and then his mouth was on hers. She tried to turn away, but his hand held her, roughly, by the hair. His lips were bruising, and she felt something sharp on her lip before realizing he'd bitten her. Yelping in pain, she waited until his tongue slithered into her mouth, then bit down.

"Fuck!" He yelled, pulling away from her, a look of utter malice on his face. "You little bitch." When she opened her mouth to retaliate, he covered it with his hand, looking her dead in the eyes. "Do you know what happens to a whore when she doesn't do what's asked of her?" She could hear Paul struggling, but couldn't see past Chase. "I'm not talking about when she doesn't get wet for the customer," She gasped as he ran a hand over her crotch, feeling her through her jeans, "Because, believe me, that doesn't matter to a guy who wants sex –,"

Her whole body was tensed, and she wasn't able to hide how scared she was anymore, "Stop it, stop it, stop it," she begged, her voice shaking.

"I'm talking about when a whore refuses to do what she's told." His bloodied tongue snaked out from between his lips to lick her jaw, "When that happens – well, things are a bit different now than they were in 1887, aren't they?"

"Chase!" An hour ago, if he weren't tied up, Paul would have killed him, but after watching him treat his girl like this, he was ready to slaughter him. "Get the fuck away from her!"

Chase ignored him, "Back then, a disobedient whore would simply be thrown out on the streets, where she'd come from, without any money. But nowadays, that whore would probably be killed before she could even defend herself."

"No! No," Paul was close to hysteria, willing himself not to break down in front of Chase. "Stop – don't hurt her. I'll do anything. Please –,"

"Tell her everything's going to be alright." Chase murmured, stroking her cheeks lightly and smiling.

Paul looked aghast, his eyes shining with tears, "Chase, please. Don't make me do this."

"Just like Paris. Tell her everything's going to be okay – re-assure her." Chase's voice was dangerous, and Shelby gulped. "Make it sound sincere, and I might let her live."

Paul's eyes met hers, and he did his best to compose himself, before whispering, "Everything will be okay, baby. I…" His voice sounded thick with emotion – he was getting choked up, "I promise it'll be alright. I'm going to protect you. I promised to protect you, remember?" She nodded, crying freely now. "Everything will be okay."

Chase laughed, coldly, "How fucking beautiful – someone get me a hankie."

Before she could say anything in response, she closed her eyes – just for a second. A second. But, in that second, she heard Paul let out a shout of "No!" before pain filled every crevice of her body and mind. Her eyes burst open and she discovered that Chase had driven his knife into her side – right above her hip. Screaming in agony, she thrashed, uncontrollably, which dug the knife in deeper. Lights burst in her vision, and she saw Chase smiling. She heard Paul sobbing and calling her name, telling her he was sorry…

But she didn't seem to be able to keep her eyes open any longer. She felt blood seeping through her shirt, pooling under her, and then she let herself drift into a void, her eyes sliding shut.

Paul struggled harder than ever, gasping as the rope burned into his wrists, determined to help her. To save her. But Chase merely turned to him, a smug grin on his face, and said "Good night, brother," before beating him unconscious.

A/N: Fast updates, I know! Marvelous, right? Lol, I don't know what's going on, but I suddenly have all this wonderful inspiration and since it's summer, I've got so much time for writing ;D Chapter 10 is already in the works, and it's going to be pretty fucking action-packed. I won't update for a while, though, because I want this next chapter to be, like, absolutely perfect.

P.S: Shelby (and Shanna), did you notice the little bit I kind of borrowed from "Dark Knight" at the end? Yeah, I thought it worked, I so I used it. I'm sure it made you cry, Shelby, since that part of the movie always manages to :P Haha, love you! :D